His Gifts
by Hareta
Summary: answer to a takeshiXlilika fic challenge. posted upon request. AU. OOC. Lilika goes alone on a baby-sitting job for Kouya, Jirou, Kyousuke, Kuroudo and Kaoru -- the horrors! And to make matters worse are...his gifts.


Standard Disclaimers Applied. I do _not_ own Crush Gear Turbo, its characters, gears, and storyline. This fanfiction was written purely for fun and am not making any money out of it. So please kindly don't sue me.  
  


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**His Gifts**  
_Lilika goes alone on a baby-sitting job for Kouya, Jirou, Kyousuke, Kuroudo and Kaoru -- the horrors! And to make matters worse are...his gifts._

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"I hate you two."   
  
"I hate you too," Takeshi laughed as moved over and patted the space he made on the couch next to him. The green eyes of the beautiful young lady who just entered the living room sharply glared at him for a second before softening as Lilika Tobita, Takeshi's girlfriend, made her way towards him. A sigh escaped her lips as she sat down next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "How did it go?" he asked after kissing the top of her head.   
  
"Don't ask," came the terse reply.   
  
"That bad?"   
  
"Worse," she sighed as she moved away from him. Takeshi would have none of that however and drew her into his arms for a kiss. He smiled against her lips as she responded willingly and tenderly. Then they parted.   
  
"Tell me?" he asked breathlessly.   
  
Lilika rolled her eyes. "Which one?"   
  
Takeshi laughed again. The boys and Kaoru must have given Lilika a particularly horrible evening. He started to feel guilty…not. He hated himself for that, but he was still in high spirits from the wonderful gearfights he and his best friend, Yuyha, had watched earlier. He sighed. It wasn't their fault that the matches were scheduled that particular night -- the night Yuyha's parents went out for a date and the same night Yuyha's younger brother, Kouya decided to have a sleep-over. And they also never intended the baby-sitter to be Lilika. It was just pure bad luck.   
  
"Kuroudo Marume," he finally replied. Only Yuyha had a sibling but all three of them were baby-sitters, as loathe was Takeshi to admit it. And anyway he had only sat for Kouya and the few kids in his small group (proclaimed the 'Tobita Club' when the children realized that all of them had Lilika as their favorite sitter). Kuroudo Marume was that sharp-tongued blonde French kid who lived a few houses over. In the 'Tobita Club', he was more or less the richest twerp and therefore also the most arrogant…   
  
"The self-proclaimed trivia king? He reminds me so much of you, Takeshi, the way her talks and carries himself." Lilika smiled.   
  
The first time Takeshi had sat for him, they went out to the gardens to do some star-gazing (it was the boy's idea, not his!) and he pointed out a shooting star in hopes to catch the young one's attention. The four-year old had only blinked up at him when Takeshi told him to make a wish, then said that that wasn't a star but a meteor and that he was a 'gazuple'… whatever 'gazuple' meant (the child's name for 'idiot'?). They had always fought in his sitting jobs there during the two years since then, but so far, Kuro-chan was his favorite kid.   
  
"Anyway, after you and Yuyha left, he appeared in the hallway and asked me his latest pop-question: 'What's the body of water so salty no creature can live in it while you can easily float in it and even read a book?"   
  
"The Dead Sea."   
  
"Exactly. He was a bit disappointed I knew the answer – but really! A six-year old studying geography?!" Lilika shook her head. "He left soon after that and I didn't see him until dinner – in a bad mood. It turned out he and Kyousuke had been playing Jeopardy all evening and he won, but the genius-kid (what they dubbed Kyousuke after he showed them his impressive Lego-futuristic city at age five) accused him of cheating because it was _his_ software and they ended up in a fight. Right. Before. Dinner. Do you know how frustrating it is that the very first time the dynamic duo chooses to fight is on the night _I sit alone_? For all five of them?! The two are usually quiet but tonight they were insufferable!"   
  
"Ah…okay, Lilika, calm down," Takeshi sweat-dropped. "…What about the rest of the kids? I'm sure Kaoru behaved herself?"   
  
"Kaoru?" Lilika echoed thoughtfully. Takeshi nodded his head. "Yes, she did." A smile appeared on her face at a thought but then she scowled at another. "She was wearing a yellow dress tonight and kept on at how pretty it was. Eventually Kouya started to tease her and told her that it was ugly and sissy. Kaoru kept on crying until just before dinner."   
  
"And dinner?"   
  
Lilika shook her head. "She shrieked through most of it. Kouya had this rubber snake and when I went into the kitchens for their food, he placed it on Kaoru's plate and chanted 'snake in the plate! snake in the plate!' over and over again while going around the table like some tribal creature. I rushed back into the dining room when I heard the commotion to find Jirou playing the go between as usual. Problem was, he could only hold back Kouya because one of his shoulders is dislocated and Kaoru--"   
  
"Wait, wait, Jirou's shoulder's dislocated? But he was perfectly fine the last time I saw him! He was playing softball with that kid -- what was his name again?"   
  
"_Taki_," Lilika answered. Taki was Jirou's best friend and softball partner/catcher. He wasn't that close to Kouya and Takeshi had never sat for him. "And no, he's not. He dislocated it the other day in practice. He got a new ball last Christmas and he wanted the first throw he did with it a baseball-type one -- and over-did it."   
  
"Oh…okay, so what happened after that?" Takeshi asked, shifting to a more comfortable position on the couch. Lilika scowled at him and then shifted too.   
  
"They stopped fighting but then the dynamic duo came. You could tell they'd been quarreling just by the look on their faces, even Kouya was stunned. Anyway, Kuroudo promptly told Kouya that it should be 'snake _on_ the plate' and not 'snake _in_ the plate' while Kyousuke sneered at Jirou and told him that his arm would be amputated soon." Lilika rolled her eyes exasperatedly. "He was more frustrated that he didn't know what amputated means than the fact that Kyousuke just told him his arm was going to be cut off! Kyousuke probably got some genius-kid dictionary or something last Christmas..."   
  
"He did," Takeshi replied absently.   
  
"What?" Lilika asked, looking up at him.   
  
"He did. Don't you remember? That was what I gave him last Christmas," Takeshi answered. When Lilika only stared at him blankly, he continued, "Come on, Lilika, you went with me to the CD shop to get the kids something. I bought Kuroudo Jeopardy and Kyousuke that Junior Dictionary."   
  
"Oh yes…" Lilika trailed off and then her face clouded. Takeshi could find no reason for it however. "And you bought Kaoru a yellow dress, Kouya a rubber snake and Jirou a new baseball at the Toy Department."   
  
"Uh huh…uh, Lilika?" Takeshi called uncertainly. The severe glare his girlfriend was pinning on him started to frighten him. "Hey, what's wrong?"   
  
"Don't you realize, Takeshi, that all of the mishaps that had happened tonight," she answered, voice pure venom, "were all brought about by _your_ Christmas gifts?"   
  
"Lilika?" He gulped.   
  
"Now I really hate you," she said, standing up. Takeshi stood up from the couch after her.   
  
"Oh, Lilika, it was just a couple of gifts," Takeshi reasoned out, placing his hands on her shoulders. Lilika shrugged them away. "We're not fighting over something as silly as this, are we?"   
  
"Silly?" Lilika echoed, groaning, "I hate this night! And I hate the gifts you chose to gave those children!"   
  
"Shh. Calm down," Takeshi said soothingly and guided her back down the coach. "You don't really mean that. You're just tired."   
  
Silence...   
  
_Silence..._   
  
SI-   
  
"Lilika?"   
  
"I'm sorry, Takeshi. I guess I really am just tired." Lilika sighed and leaned back on her boyfriend again. "And no, I don't hate last Christmas, or your choice of gifts," she said, a smile in her voice. Her hand came up to touch the silver necklace that hung from around her neck. His gift to _her_.   
  
"I'm glad," Takeshi mumrmured as he lifted her head up and gave her a short peck on the lips. "Am I off the hook then?"   
  
"Nope," Lilika replied with a smile.   
  
Owari 

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**Author's Notes**: Alright, _that_ was awful. I was so focused on getting the five phrases/words (the ones underlined) in that the plot went to nowhere! My gosh, I'm _so_ sorry...not! XD Never mind, I'm still out of myself right now...   
  
**Dedications**: (Do I even _dare_ to dedicate such a piece to others?!) To the members of the takeshiXlilika and Kazie's brother, Wang Hu, who made this fanfic challenge. *shakes head* You're crazy!^^ 


End file.
